1. Technical Field
This invention pertains to the field of online advertising. In particular, the invention provides a method for providing an advertiser with exclusive placement on multiple web pages viewed by a particular web site visitor and the ability to purchase advertising in units of user sessions. The method also optionally gives advertisers an opportunity to select the web pages where the advertisements will be viewed and to select the visitors who will view the advertisements.
2. Description of the Background Art
Advertising on the Internet typically involves fixed position advertising regions, commonly known as banners, skyscrapers and the like, which appear on the browser page of the user when information on a web page requested by the user is viewed. In most cases, the content is fixed so that all viewers of that web page view the same advertisement on the same location of the web page as displayed by the user's browser. Typically, multiple advertisers display advertisements on the same page.
In most cases, an advertiser supplies advertising copy to the operator of a web site and the advertising is displayed on the pages of the web site. The web pages then are viewed by users accessing the web site. Typically, the advertiser cannot choose the pages or subject areas where the advertisements will appear, nor can the advertiser otherwise target the users that are most desirable. The advertiser has little or no control over how the particular advertising content is viewed by the user or whether the content is even visible on the page due to scrolling by the user. Some advertisements may not be viewed at all by the user; some may be viewed or visible for only a very short period of time. Thus the duration of the advertisement viewed is not possible to control or quantitate, and the reach of the advertising can not be measured.
Measuring the impact and reach of conventional online advertising is difficult using current methodologies. Primarily, traditional online fixed advertisements have very low response (or “click-through”) rates. In addition, a web page typically contains different advertisements from two or more advertisers, each competing for the attention of the user. This practice results in clutter on the page and makes it even more difficult for each advertiser to calculate the reach and consequently the value of the advertising they have purchased. Also, it is very difficult to determine how long or how often a user actually views an advertisement or to otherwise gauge the effectiveness of the advertising. Consequently, advertisers may be reluctant to purchase conventional online advertising or to pay more than relatively low amounts for the advertising. The difficulty in quantitating the reach and frequency of conventional online banner or other fixed position advertising in the manner familiar to purchasers of traditional advertising such as print media, television and radio advertising also has made traditional brand advertisers disinclined to advertise online.
Traditional broadcast and print advertisement pricing is generally based on measurements such as the demographics of the audience and the number of viewers or subscribers. Online advertising usually has been sold based on “clicks,” page views or “impressions.” Each of these selling units has disadvantages. Impressions measure the number of times that a particular advertisement is displayed on a web page to viewers, while page views measure the number of times that a particular web page is viewed. Neither reveals whether the same advertisement or page has been displayed several times to the same user or to multiple users. As a result, impressions or page views currently are recognized as poorly correlated to actual audience reach and have limited meaning to advertisers.
The number of times viewers select an advertisement (“click-throughs”) supposedly provides a truer measure of response to the advertisement. But users increasingly view online advertising but do not click-through to receive more information about the products and/or services being offered. Studies show that the average rage of click-throughs to banner-type advertisements generally has diminished over time. Using a click model for basing pricing also underestimates the impact an advertisement may have on a web site visitor who does not click on the advertisement but nevertheless may have an increased awareness and favorable opinion of the advertised subject matter. Therefore, since the web site cannot accurately measure the impact of the advertising message that it sells, it cannot charge a price that takes this impact into account. Moreover, a model based on the number of clicks does not take into account the quality or demographics of the audience being reached.
Many traditional advertisers also find it difficult to compare and contrast impressions, page views, or click-throughs with the measurements used in other forms of advertising with which they are familiar, such as television commercials or traditional print advertisements. Judging the intrinsic value of such advertising in terms familiar to purchasers of advertising also has been difficult. Web publishers know that online advertising builds brands effectively and produces valuable results. However, advertisers clearly need another way of viewing and measuring whether their message is reaching its desired audience and effectively building brand awareness.
As viewer response to banners or to fixed positions online advertising has decreased, spending on online advertising also has leveled off. In an attempt to boost sales of advertising on the web, some publishers have introduced new formats, such as pop-up or pop-under ads. Critics say that these larger and more intrusive advertisements leave the target audience with a negative rather than positive impression of both the advertiser and the web site.
Other methods of presenting advertising messages online to better capture the web site visitor's attention have been attempted. For example, United States Published Patent Application US2002/0002491 A1 discloses a method for rotating banners through a series of advertisements. This method includes a method for determining whether the user has not viewed any advertisements in the series and if an advertisement has been viewed, the next advertisement in the series is displayed or an advertisement matching the user's demographic profile is used. This method, among other things, does not, however, overcome the disadvantage of web page clutter or permit measurement of frequency and/or reach to a particular user during a web session. Nor does the method allow a single advertiser to exclusively control the major advertisement positions over a series of web pages.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,127 describes a non-scrolling frame where advertisements can be displayed sequentially to web site visitors. These advertisements have the advantage that the end user cannot scroll the frame so that it ceases to be visible, and the frame system allows advertisements to be displayed sequentially over different page views of a web session. This method, however, does not discuss exclusive advertising within the entire web page.
Because of the above problems associated with conventional online advertising methods, there is a need in the art for a method to sell and display advertising which overcomes these difficulties and uncertainties and provides an improved method of measuring advertising effectiveness.